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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump Asks Supreme Court To Let Him Curtail Mail Voting; TRUMP: U.S. Halted Strikes After Iran Sought To Renew Peace Talks; Harris County DA's Office: Substance In Houston ICE Shooting Van Was Not Drugs; Harris County D.A. Confirms Houston ICE Shooting Victim's Van Did Not Contain Drugs; Savannah Guthrie Posts New Plea To Find Her Missing Mom; Bryan Kohberger Says He Wants To Take Back Guilty Plea; Secret Service Agent Charged In Alleged Frat Hazing Incident; Raging Wildfires Force Evacuations In France And Spain. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired July 27, 2026 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And tonight, despite thousands of North Korean troops fighting for Russia, only two, two are known to have been captured alive, Erin. And Ukrainian officials say that's because North Korean soldiers are under orders to avoid capture at all costs. Kim Jong Un has even praised what State Media called soldiers who self-blasted with grenades rather than surrender. Ukrainian forces say some North Korean soldiers have even shouted Kim's name before pulling the pin on those grenades -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Wow! Will Ripley, thank you very much and thanks to all of you.AC360 starts now.

[20:00:35]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: He calls it a disaster and inherently corrupt. Now, the President wants the Supreme Court to take emergency action to let him restrict mail in voting. John Berman here, in for Anderson.

In the breaking news, an emergency application asking the court to greenlight his executive order giving the Postal Service authority to determine who gets to vote by mail. A federal judge put it on hold. The First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that injunction. Now, the justices are giving challengers to the administrations emergency application a week to respond.

Now, if they take the case, this would set up a clash over a pillar of the Constitution that states have the power to regulate elections, not the executive branch. Now, as you know, the President has been railing against mail-in balloting for years, including today in Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Mail-in ballots are inherently corrupt except for illness, disability, military deployment or travel. If you're in the military, you're far away, absolutely. If you have to go someplace, absolutely. But mail-in ballots have proven to be a disaster. We're the only country in the world that in this form does them. There is no other country in the world because they're crooked. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, keeping them honest, that's not true. Many countries permit some or all citizens to vote by mail. As for being inherently corrupt, someone should have told the President that before he cast a mail-in ballot this spring for a special election in Florida.

In any case, it's now a federal case before the highest court in the land. And CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us with the very latest here. So, Kristen, explain exactly what The White House wants the Supreme Court to do and the potential implications for the midterms.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they want to have the Supreme Court step in here. President Trump has been touting this idea that mail-in ballots, mail-in voting is irregular, that it causes an enormous amount of problems and now they do see an opening.

You have to keep in mind here The White House viewed this as a real win when recently it was revealed that roughly 400 people noncitizens voted in New Jersey. Now, widespread fraud is still something that there is no evidence of. But this was something that The White House believed it could cling on to.

And one thing to keep in mind is that President Trump's own team, they don't want to be talking about election fraud. Even when President Trump gave that speech recently where he was talking about these documents that have been declassified. They didn't want him or there was a large contingency of people who didn't want him to give that speech. They understand how it plays. They understand it's not a popular issue other than with a few select members of his base. But yet this is something President Trump cares about.

So, it's something that you're seeing his team really just support him on as he is continued to kind of try and take control in any way he can of the voting process ahead of November.

BERMAN: So, so expand on that a little bit. They don't want him to be talking about this yet. It seems like if it were up to him, this is almost all he would be talking about.

HOLMES: But John, they're aware that this is not something that is a popular issue. One, they know how this is treated in the public. They understand that there is evidence or lack thereof evidence in terms of major fraud across the board when it comes to elections.

They want him to be focused on other things like affordability, like the economy, like things that are going to get voters to the polls and they just don't believe talking about election fraud is one of those things. But if you talk to people who are close to him, they will also express to you that one of the ways that you handle President Trump is to allow him to elaborate on the things that he really cares about, not stand in his way, not get into fights about it.

So, they have indulged this speech on election integrity. They have indulged this kind of doubling down on mail-in voting. But I will remind you, Republicans benefit from mail-in voting. This is something we've seen since 2020, when they were trying to get him to stop the rhetoric on mail-in voting, calling it fraudulent, because that impacts a lot of their own voters, but they're not going to stand in President Trump's way.

And again, they do feel like the door has been opened here, particularly when it comes to non-citizens voting, which is really what this executive order is expected to try and tackle. Although there are a lot of legal issues here, which is why you've seen this put on hold. But that is now they see this opening because of what happened in New Jersey.

BERMAN: All right, Kristen Holmes, for us at The White House tonight. Great reporting as always.

I'm joined now by "New York Times" White House correspondent Tyler Pager, former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin, also bestselling Supreme Court biographer and former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin, who was just writing about President Trumps obsession with elections in "The New York Times" today.

But talk to me, Jeff, first, about the merits of this case, because, as we said, the constitution leaves managing elections to the states and also to Congress, but decidedly not the executive branch.

[20:05:16]

JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: And this effort by the President, this Executive Order, that is an attempt to get the states to produce lists of people, and only those people would be allowed to file mail-in ballots that would impose a tremendous obligation on the states. And that is why the states have objected, and that's why they've won so far in court, because imposing that kind of requirement on states is, according to the judges so far, an interference with their right to run elections under the Constitution, which is what they're allowed to do.

BERMAN: What about the politics of this, Alyssa? What do you think?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, it's not what the President should be focusing on is, Kristen Holmes said, I imagine most advisers around him want him talking about the economy, what they're going to be doing to jumpstart it. And instead, he's looking backward. He gave his speech just last week on the 2020 election, and then now this.

But I do think this is a result of the news out of New Jersey about these 400 undocumented migrants who are able to register and ultimately vote. As soon as that news came down, even though it was actually a very small number, that in no way impacted the election, I thought, this will be rocket fuel for the President and certain advisers around him who have just really clung to this myth that there is widespread voter fraud and that it's undocumented migrants who are committing it.

Most people in The White House, I am certain, are advising him to focus on something else. But there are some true believers. I remember talking to Stephen Miller in probably 2017, Mike Pence oversaw then Vice President an election integrity task force in The White House and we had to fold it because we didn't find any widespread election fraud. And Stephen was someone who was saying, oh no, it's there. Keep looking, keep looking. So, I'm sure he's got some sympathetic voices.

BERMAN: How much of a cost is there, Tyler, to the President focusing on this, and does it have the potential to backfire?

TYLER PAGER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES" WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, there's two things. One, when he's talking about election fraud, he's not talking about the economy or the Democrats. And those are the issues that his advisors and Republicans want him to be talking about. And so, there's just sort of the time cost of it.

But then also, and Kristen mentioned this as well, there are many Republicans who vote by mail, Donald Trump being one of them. And when he talks about mail-in balloting and casts doubt on it, that undermines some Republicans faith in the process. And thus, they may not turn out to vote. What happens if they have a conflict on election day or something comes up and they don't choose to vote by mail.

And so, a lot of Trumps advisers in the 2024 election encouraged him to get people to vote by whatever legally available means there was because they knew they needed to, you know, start turning in the vote. There was this phrase that his advisers got him to use, "too big to rig" this idea that they should try to run up the score with early voting, mail in balloting, all different forms of voting to get their numbers up.

And so, it is a contrast to hear him talking about it this way, when many of his own aides and supporters have used mail-in balloting to vote for him.

BERMAN: You know, Jeffrey, my sources tell me there are 99 days until election day. It's not a lot of time to implement an executive order like this. I mean, how likely is the Supreme Court to take the timing into the, you know, account here?

TOOBIN: I want to be very careful in answering this question because, you know, many of us thought that the birthright citizenship case was like a nine nothing slam dunk against Trump. There were only five votes against Trump on the constitutional issue in that case. This is a very pro-Trump court, and I think we need to wrap our heads around that.

Even so, this case procedurally, would be very complicated for the for the supreme court to take up right now. First of all, it's the middle of the summer. They're spread all around the world.

The nine justices, they don't do much over the summer. And also, this case is really still at a preliminary stage. And the court doesn't like to address things until there are final judgments. All that being said, I don't know what the court is going to do, and there will certainly be votes on the court for Trump, whether there are four or five votes for to grant certiorari, five in his favor. I don't know. BERMAN: And then, Alyssa, you know, it's not just with the Supreme

Court. it's not just the speeches. It's this whole thing with the Senate and John Thune and trying to get him to take up The Voter I.D. Act, and he just rails on Thune whenever he can. It seems he was. You know, the other day he was saying the senate is a place where you send things when you want them to die and he urges, that's the things, by the way, not the people. And he urges his supporters to call majority leader Thune here. So, you're getting sort of Republican-on-Republican tension here.

GRIFFIN: And it's remarkable because the SAVE Act just simply does not have the votes. John Thune cannot wave a wand and make votes exist that do not do not exist. The wild thing is this, though voter I.D. just a Voter I.D. Bill, is supported by about 80 percent of Americans and would likely have the votes to pass the Senate. A similar version had passed the House previously, so, I'm almost kind of wondering why The White House isn't just taking the win and saying they could pass Voter I.D., but it won't have all these other provisions, which are essentially poison pills, to get the votes it needs in the Senate.

[20:10:27]

BERMAN: Do you have a sense of what's going on there, Tyler, and how far the President is going to take his vitriol against John Thune the next two weeks? They're in session for two more weeks here in the U.S. Senate and that's kind of it.

[20:10:41]

PAGER: Yes, I think the key to understanding this issue with Donald Trump is it's very personal for him. He feels that he did not win the 2020 election because of election fraud. There is not evidence to support that claim. But that is what he believes. And so, he is driven by this campaign of retribution in many ways, and also legacy. And he sees this as part of, you know, burnishing his legacy for something that he felt he was wronged by. So, how far he's going to take it with John Thune, right.

For the most part, Thune has done everything Trump has wanted to. Patience is wearing thin, a little bit on Thune's side because Trump has endorsed candidates in Senate Republican primaries that he did not want. But as Alyssa said, Thune's problem is not one of his own making, it's that he does not have the votes to pass this legislation that Trump wants.

So, I think we'll continue to see Trump express frustration with Thune. But more broadly, we will see what happens. I think an inflection point will be November.

Do Democrats take control of the Senate? And what does that mean for the future of the relationship? I would be surprised to see Trump try to dump him or put pressure on him before then. But it's Donald Trump, and I'm not in the business of predicting what he might do next.

BERMAN: You got Supreme Court guy who won't predict the Supreme Court, a White House guy who won't predict the White House here. So, Jeffrey, your piece today, your op-ed talks about some Democrats who are kind of looking at November, you know, in a break glass moment there, a concern that Trump may go to extraordinary ends to influence the election.

TOOBIN: And there are lots of possibilities. I mean, we are talking about this one executive order, but that's just one effort of many. The whole issue of will there be troops by the voting places? Will he issue other executive orders about how this election is going to be conducted? I mean, he fired the Election Assistance Commission.

I mean, there are lots of different options he has, mostly they have not succeeded, and mostly elections have proceeded normally. But I think people have to remember that January 6th happened, that there was an attempt by his supporters, encouraged by the President himself, to overturn the results in in 2020, that could happen again. That's what my story was about today in "The Times" regarding the House of representatives. This is a long way from over, and the President is obsessed with this issue.

BERMAN: Everyone should go read that piece right now because it presented a scenario that I had never known existed before. It's interesting. it's a great read. Jeffrey Toobin, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Tyler Pager. Thank you all for being with us.

Next, after two weeks of strikes and threats of far worse from the President, it's all on hold tonight with Iran. The question is, what's behind the back down?

And later, a heartbreaking new plea from Savannah Guthrie, whomever took her mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, BROADCAST JOURNALIST AND ATTORNEY: I'm asking you, begging you to do the right thing now, make the right choice. Help us find her. Tell us where to look for her. I truly believe it is never too late to do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:17:52]

BERMAN: Keeping them honest tonight: Has the Trump administration just gone eyeball to eyeball with Iran and blinked? That is the question, here's why it is. Two weeks ago today, the President declared the U.S. the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz and a day later said, "... oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the awesome power of the United States military."

It wasn't then, and it isn't now, 12 days ago, he was warning that right about now, American forces would be in the middle of leveling Iran's civilian infrastructure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Next week, it gets really bad for them. We're going to knock

out all their power plants. We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So tonight, instead of that, whatever you might think of it, there are no airstrikes. The Strait is still effectively closed. Oil is still not flowing, and Iran has conceded nothing. In fact, it seems that nothing has materially changed from two weeks ago, when the last round of airstrikes were getting underway. So, why have they stopped? And why is the President now saying this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They asked us very nicely. Please stop, let's meet. And that's where we are right now. We'll see what happens. If we don't make a deal. We go back to the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, this would be a hopeful sign. Yet today, Iran's Foreign Ministry says, no, that is not happening, there are no talks underway. Now, it is always possible he's just saying that for public consumption or that the President is referring to the initiative that Oman's Foreign Minister has launched with counterparts from the region, including Iran.

But for now, we have no evidence or indication that direct talks are back on again, let alone that Iran, as the President said, asked us very nicely. Please stop, let's meet. On the other hand, there is evidence of another reason for stopping the air campaign. It has to do with the shrinking U.S. inventory of munitions. After nearly five months of war, something U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz signaled over the weekend. Ironically, with this very precise denial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I want to be crystal clear. The U.S. Military and I have verified this every which way has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be. And I have to tell you, the people that are leaking this nonsense deserve to be in jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:20:17]

BERMAN: So, notice, he said the military has, "everything it needs to conduct this campaign." That is also what a source tells us that Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine told the President on Friday. It is true as far as it goes, the real concern appears to be that the war would leave the military short of what it needs to handle future conflicts or supply allies should they ask for help, something multiple sources tell us that General Caine himself warned the President about before the war even began. And a recent study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows the problem.

As of May, CSIS estimates that as many as 1430 patriot air defense missiles had been fired, along with more than a thousand Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, and that it will take well into 2029, or as long as 2031, to restock them to pre-war levels. The President himself suggested as much today, while blaming his predecessor for it, not the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And we're in very good shape, but for some of the more sophisticated stuff, we'd certainly like to have more. Biden gave a lot of it away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, clearly the President is aware there is a finite stockpile to deal with, less clear the extent to which this factored into pausing the strikes. But it was not the only concern raised with the President on Friday, according to a source familiar with the discussion. That also included causing a refugee crisis, Iranian retaliation against Gulf energy and desalination targets and sparking a greater regional war. All possible reasons to stop and think, or even to stop and blink.

With us now retired Army Lieutenant General Karen Gibson. She's the former Director of Intelligence for U.S. Central Command. Also, former Senior U.S. Diplomat Alan Eyre, who was a key member of the team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

General Gibson, I want to start with you. You heard the Presidents threats in the days leading up to his decision to pause these strikes. Did Iran, in essence, call his bluff?

GEN. KAREN GIBSON, FORMER DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENCE FOR U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Well, it's a good question, John, and I'm not sure well know exactly how or why the President made the decision he did. I think he had three options one, to stay the course, which was returning limited return on investment strategically. At the tactical level, U.S. Central Command is doing a very good job of destroying Iranian military capabilities, but not enough to eliminate the threat to the Strait. It's a very small area that were trying to defend, and Iran has a vast geography from which they can attack it with relatively easy to produce, low cost, easy to hide, one way attack drones.

So entirely eliminating that threat is very, very difficult. And I think also, if we look at Iran's will and intent, there's not any evidence that we had moved the needle on their desire, their insistence to continue to control traffic through the Strait. So, perhaps a very limited return on investment to keep doing what you've been doing.

His other two options were to escalate, and I think you've done a great job of highlighting some of the risks associated that with that, not only the diminishment of our stocks of very expensive interceptors, but also the potential for broad retaliation, alienating Gulf partners.

And again, perhaps not getting what we want. And then, a third course of action where he could pause, assess, see where were at in terms of an ability to have a discussion, a productive discussion with Iran going forward. And clearly, that is the choice that he's made.

BERMAN: Yes. Alan, let's continue with option number three there, that the general just laid out. The President claimed that Iran, "asked us very nicely, please stop, let's meet." And for its part, Iran's foreign ministry says it's not currently engaged in peace talks with the United States. What do you think the potential for negotiations is today?

ALAN EYRE, DISTINGUISHED DIPLOMATIC FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: I think, John, the potential for negotiation is pretty good but the U.S. isn't a part of it. I think what's happening now, the area that has the most promise is Iran talking to Oman, because don't forget, in Article Five of the now shredded MOU, it said that Oman and Iran and with Oman consulting with the relevant coastal countries will determine the future of the Strait.

So, the U.S. is incapable or unwilling to do the sort of diplomacy we need to get out of this mess. But if Oman is talking to Iran, there's a chance that together they can come up with some type of system for administrative control of the Strait that will please all parties concerned. But at this point, I hope the U.S. is just letting that happen without trying to interfere.

BERMAN: And of course, that would, in essence, leave Iran in control of the Strait, or at least have more control of the Strait than they did before this conflict began.

EYRE: But as the general, said, we can't avoid that. That's a given.

BERMAN: Yes, which is a statement in and of itself at this point. General, you mentioned the concerns, and we talked about the concerns of the U.S. munitions stockpile. How big of an issue do you think that is?

[20:25:19

GIBSON: Well, I think any time that you are expending munitions at a rate faster than the defense industrial base can reconstitute them, you're going to diminish your supplies. And that always happens in combat, because we use them much faster than they are produced. The shortfall with munitions nationally has been an issue for many years. It predates this administration, and the one before it, and in fact, is one of the four priorities that the Trump administration laid out in their new National Defense Strategy to rebuild that defense industrial base.

And as you talked about earlier in this segment, it's not just the munitions we would want for this campaign against Iran. Frankly, when we used to look at shortcomings for munitions, it was always in the context of, would we have enough in case we had to defend Taiwan? And these are munitions that are used by our Gulf partners. They are used in Ukraine; they've been used by East Asian allies. And so, there's great demand for them. And expending them in the campaign against Iran certainly limits options for potential conflict in every other theater of war.

BERMAN: Yes, be sure China and Russia are watching very closely. Alan, just put a little more meat on what we were just talking about, 78 vessels were observed transiting the Strait of Hormuz since Saturday, 20 were Iranian flagged, 58 from other countries, and almost all of them used the route designated by Iran. None were recorded using the Southern route near the coast of Oman that the U.S. wants them to take.

So, this is all, by the way, according to the shipping intelligence group, MIRS. What does this tell you? Does this tell you that Iran continues to get what it wants in the Strait?

EYRE: I think to an extent, yes, because Iran, if the U.S. tries to get more ships through the Southern route, the Omani Coast, Iran will attack again and we will get a recrudescence, a re-ignition of what happened last time. And another cycle of escalatory violence. So, the key thing to monitor, though, John, is the number of ships going through the Strait because there's an undeniable, unavoidable, avoidable physical component here, okay.

The longer the Strait of Hormuz is constricted. And don't forget prewar levels were 100 to 130 ships a day. The more quickly and the more extensive the consequences are for the global economy, especially when you consider that now, with the reemergence of Houthi-Saudi tension, the Bab el-Mandeb is again constricted, at least to Saudi oil exports.

BERMAN: Yes, it really is a situation that doesn't seem to be going the direction the U.S. wants, at least not yet. We'll see where it stands tomorrow in the next day. General Gibson, Alan Eyre, thank you both so much for being with us.

Next, federal authorities initially said there might have been drugs in the van a Mexican immigrant was driving when an ICE agent shot him dead in Houston. Now that lab testing shows otherwise, what happens next? The district attorney joins us.

And later, why a Secret Service agent is under House arrest tonight. And the connection he allegedly had to a fraternity hazing that nearly turned deadly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:32:34]

BERMAN: So new developments in the deadly ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. The Harris County District Attorney's Office has confirmed that after testing, the substance found inside Salgado Araujo's van was not drugs.

Just days after the shooting, an FBI search warrant was unsealed stating that the federal authorities had cause to believe there were illegal drugs in the van, saying the packaging and appearance of the substance was consistent with methamphetamine. But the attorney for Salgado Araujo's brother, who witnessed the shooting, as well as Texas Democratic Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, said the substance was just a homemade electrolyte mix.

With us now is the Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare. District Attorney, thank you so much for being with us. Your office has confirmed that the substance in the van tested negative for drugs. Just tell us more about these tests and what you were able to find.

SEAN TEARE, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Sure, John, and thanks for having me. Yes, the tests came back from the lab Friday. And the way that criminal labs test for substances is really they just eliminate possibilities. They don't tell you exactly what it is, but we can confirm that no illicit narcotics were found in any of the substances that were tested, which really goes right back to what we said at the beginning is that there's no reason to believe they had narcotics in the car at all.

It wasn't grounds for the stop. It was completely out of character for all of the four individuals in the van. And the only reason that I'm even talking about a specific piece of evidence in a case like this is because it was such a red herring that there was no reason for it to even be mentioned.

BERMAN: Yes, red herring. How unusual is it for federal authorities to unseal something like that so early?

TEARE: Well, I'm sure you have a plethora of federal experts that can sit here and tell you exactly what I'm about to tell you. And that's that -- in 20 years of law enforcement experience that I've had, I've never seen it happen. I've never seen a criminal search warrant be unsealed by the federal government before at least a grand jury presentation. So I would say it was pretty unique.

BERMAN: Harris County is doing its own investigation into this shooting. How much evidence or cooperation have you received from the federal government so far?

TEARE: Well, our FBI field office here in Houston has been as transparent and is as helpful as they've always been. They're a wonderful partner day in and day out for us.

[20:35:11]

The DHS-OIG has been somewhat less. We have not had really direct communication with them. We do have the Texas Rangers working with us. They have had more interaction with DHS-OIG. So we've been able to continue to collect evidence through that avenue. But the investigation is moving along more rapidly than I thought it would.

BERMAN: Really? I mean, how much has your office been able to learn so far and when can the public expect results?

TEARE: As much as I would love to put a timetable on it, that wouldn't be fair to the investigation, to the Salgado family, and quite frankly, to the community. But I can tell you that we've got a dedicated team working on this case every single day. We've been out in the East End every day since the shooting, collecting evidence, collecting surveillance, talking to witnesses, interviewing other people.

And so I would say in the relatively near future, we anticipate being able to make a decision on presenting this to a grand jury or outright making a charging decision.

BERMAN: Have you spoken to the person who fired the shots? Do you even have the name of the person who fired the shots?

TEARE: So we have not been given the name from the Department of Homeland Security, but -- and I'm not going to go into specifics about what we do and don't have, but being able to speak to the individual that fired the shots is something that we anticipate being able to do in the relatively near future.

BERMAN: And you are open to the idea of putting this case before a grand jury, which means presumably you are considering pressing charges?

TEARE: So in cases in Houston, in Harris County, where officers are involved in shootings that result in a fatality, it is our regular process to present those cases to a grand jury, regardless of whether or not we intend to charge or not. I -- we're not going to treat this case any differently than that. So, yes, I have a full intention of presenting this case to a grand jury and seeing what charges potentially the grand jury believes is appropriate.

BERMAN: Well, listen, Harris County District Attorney, Sean Teare, thank you for explaining the process so well. I think we learned a lot about how this is taking place. I really appreciate it.

Up next, the new plea from Savannah Guthrie for the return of her missing mother. Her message, the alleged captor or captors ahead.

Plus a Secret Service agent is among those accused of taking part in a near fatal fraternity hazing. Our Randi Kaye has details on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:42:05]

BERMAN: Today show host Savannah Guthrie has posted a new video message online pleading for the return of her missing mother, Nancy. This is the full video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, DAUGHTER OF NANCY GUTHRIE: I'm coming on today with a very specific message. It has been months since our mom was taken from us. Our family is in agony. We are in a nightmare that will not end. Nothing about our situation has changed.

We have done our part. And we will never stop looking for her. We will always ache for her and feel that hole in our hearts.

The world can be a cruel and unforgiving place. And I know that you have tried to do things the right way. So I'm asking you, begging you to do the right thing now.

Make the right choice. Help us find her. Tell us where to look for her. I truly believe it is never too late to do the right thing. Help us bring this situation to an end.

For all of us, no matter where we've been and what we've done, I believe there is always a way home. Please make the right choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So the search for Nancy Guthrie will hit the six-month mark on Saturday. Authorities believe an intruder took the 84-year-old from her home near Tucson, Arizona. Earlier this month, the FBI said this continues to be investigated as a kidnapping for ransom case.

You'll like to remember, 10 days after she vanished, the FBI released videos from her doorbell camera showing a masked figure on her porch the morning of her disappearance and another, that's according to a source, recorded earlier.

With us now, Senior Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller. John, this video seems to have some very specific language and literally has a quote saying she has a very specific message for whoever took her mother. What's the strategy there?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, John, clearly she's talking to all of us. Anybody who has information, she wants them to come forward. But right behind that, yes, she's talking to somebody specific. We don't know who that is. But the construct of the message is a direct message.

When she says -- clearly, you know, this is a specific message. When she says, the world can be a cruel and unforgiving place, and I know that, you have tried to do things the right way. There are two letters that authorities believe came from the kidnappers.

One demanding the ransom at the very beginning of this case. Another that came a number of days later saying that your mother died in the course of the kidnapping. We didn't intend for that to happen. She responded with messages saying, please tell us where she is, how to find her, even to recover the remains so that we can celebrate her and in a proper way with family.

[20:45:14]

It sounds like this is another outreach to whoever took her to say. And it also sounds like there may be some other contact that she's responding to. We don't know that either. It's almost as if we're listening to one side of a telephone call as she says, you know, I know life has been hard, but you've tried to do the right thing now. Bring it home, basically, is the message. BERMAN: Yes, one side of a telephone call where other conversations seem to have taken place beforehand that we're not sure of the context of how involved with the FBI be with a message like this.

MILLER: Well, they would be involved with it, but regardless of what they run by the FBI, this is a very personal message. The family was directly involved in the construct of it. This is Savannah being Savannah, putting herself out there and speaking directly to some party unknown to us, at least and likely unknown to her.

And it is just as emotional and real as the messages before. You can tell she means every word of this. She wants her mom back.

BERMAN: Yes, it's wrenching and our hearts go out to her for sure.

Separately, John, I want to ask you about Bryan Kohberger, the man convicted of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022 because he just filed a petition in court and is seeking to take back his guilty plea and wants the case reopened with a new trial. So what are the odds of that actually happening, given that he publicly admitted to the killing in his plea deal?

MILLER: The odds are like a snowball's chance in hell. And there's a reason for that. You know, Kohberger is basically basing this motion on the idea that he was misled, he was tricked, he didn't really understand what was going on when he was talked into, as he says, you know, pleading guilty. That is ridiculous.

Let's take a look at Bryan Kohberger. He is the admitted and now convicted calculating murderer of a number of young people that he had no motive to kill, no reason to kill. And whatever his reason was in the back of his mind, assuming that when he pled guilty, he was telling the truth, we may never know.

But we do know this. He has a associate's degree, which led to a bachelor's degree in psychology, which led to a master's degree in criminal justice, which led to his candidacy for a PhD, a doctorate in criminal justice, in which over a number of years, he studied every possible aspect of the criminal mind, the criminal justice system, and criminology from every angle.

He was the teacher's aide in the class at the time right before the murder. So for him to make the claim as if he's some guy who wandered into a liquor store robbery gone wrong and flimflammed by a fast- talking detective that he didn't know what was going on, he was represented by competent counsel of his own choosing. These were very professional lawyers who have experience in capital cases.

It's going to be really hard to convince a judge after going through all of the questions that the judge asked. Do you know what you're doing? Are you of sound mind? Did anybody offer you anything? There's a long list of those questions to which he has to say under oath that I am pleading guilty of my own knowledge and volition. And I think this is going to be a really tough sell. Too little, too late.

BERMAN: John Miller, thank you very much. So a Secret Service agent is under house arrest tonight facing criminal charges related to an alleged fraternity hazing ritual. Those allegations involve two pledges of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity at the University of Miami, one of whom nearly died. The alleged incident is a stain on the reputation of the Secret Service, another one in recent months.

And Randi Kaye joins us from Florida tonight. Randi, what more have you learned about what happened here?

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Such disturbing details, John. We're getting all of this information from a search warrant and an arrest warrant that I was able to get from the state attorney's office in Miami today. The pledges were beaten after failing to answer questions correctly about the history of their fraternity.

So if they got the question wrong, they were repeatedly beaten with paddles and canes. Now, the beatings only stopped after one of the pledges noticed that he was bleeding through his underwear and his clothing. These beatings took place allegedly in several different locations around Miami.

One victim later began to get nauseous. He had a fever. He had to admit himself to the hospital. And we understand that he underwent skin grafts because of the injuries on his buttocks. And according to authorities, he nearly died. They said that if he hadn't gone into the hospital, he would have died from kidney failure.

[20:50:02]

And another pledge, John, who was allegedly involved in this, also ended up in the hospital intubated in order to get critical care. And we also know that the paddles, according to this arrest warrant, were wrapped in electrical tape, and they had two words on them, John. Those words were kaboom and kapow.

BERMAN: So, Randi, and all three men have been arrested, including the Secret Service agent we mentioned earlier. What more do we know about him?

KAYE: He's a 29-year-old Secret Service agent based in Miami here. His name is Marquez Pinder. He is facing a number of charges, John, including attempted manslaughter with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, or causing great bodily harm, also hazing with a deadly weapon. These are all felonies.

Now, according to Pinder's LinkedIn page, he has been with the Secret Service for nearly three years. He was also a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, also part of the U.S. Navy Reserve. And according to a statement that I got from the special agent in charge in the Miami field office for the Secret Service, he told me that Pinder is now on administrative leave and that they are cooperating with this investigation.

We also reached out to the fraternity for comment. We didn't get any comment back. We also reached out to Pinder's attorney. He did not get back to me, but he did give a statement to The New York Times saying that this case was, quote, "grossly overcharged." He also said that Pinder has served his country honorably, first in the military, then in the Secret Service. And we look forward to fighting these charges.

Now, Pinder did appear in court today before a judge. He was released on bond. But listen to the warning the judge gave him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE MINDY S. GLAZER, MIAMI-DADE CIRCUIT COURT: Stay away from the alleged victims. His initials are S-R-N-C-G. No contact with these victims, alleged victims either directly, indirectly, in person, in writing, by telephone or through third parties. Stay at least 500 feet away from their home, school and place of employment at all times. Do you understand the stay away order, sir?

MARQUEZ PINDER, SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Yes, ma'am.

GLAZER: OK, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And John, Pinder is under house arrest with a GPS device attached to him.

BERMAN: And, Randi, this is sort of one more episode with the Secret Service where there have been agents getting caught up in things, correct?

KAYE: Yes, there have been a few issues recently. Certainly two months ago, there was the issue of the off-duty Secret Service agent who allegedly exposed himself in decent exposure here in the Miami area. Also earlier this year, there was the agent who accidentally shot himself in the leg at the Philadelphia International Airport. And also earlier this year, there was a Secret Service officer who was arrested on allegations of sending sexually explicit material to a young girl, John.

BERMAN: A lot going on.

Randi Kaye, thank you so much for that report.

So coming up, an update on the devastating wildfires in Europe, with French President Macron calling it the most difficult situation since World War II.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:07]

BERMAN: Spain's capital region and key parts of France are dealing with some of the worst wildfires on record. Authorities say it could take months to fully extinguish the flames, and soaring temperatures later this week won't help.

CNN's Melissa Bell has the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An inferno raging beyond all control. Five days in, the Gironde fire keeps growing, despite the rotations day and night of 2,500 firefighters. Plus the civilians who've been drafted in to try and tame a blaze that seems to have taken on a life of its own, creating its own winds.

BELL: This is what the firefighters are dealing with. Even in those parts of the forest that the fire has gone through, that have been ravaged, where the pines have been destroyed, as you can see, the ground, the soil, the nature of the vegetation are such that it is so hot, that flames are constantly popping up from the ground. The other challenge is this westerly wind that's been driving this monster fire always further to the southeast, where the biggest flames continue to progress.

BELL (voice-over): And ever closer to Bordeaux and its satellite towns, forcing over the weekend an extra 55,000 from their homes. Overall, the number evacuated so far 220,000, according to authorities.

Wendy and her family fled in the early hours of Saturday morning.

WENDY, EVACUATED FROM WILDFIRES (through translation): It's really not knowing why we're here in the first place, whether it's because the fire is approaching our home, or because of the ash that was blown our way by the strong winds, and in the end, not knowing when we'll be able to go back home.

BELL (voice-over): Christophe wouldn't leave without his neighbors, both in their 90s and diabetic. The hard part, he says, was getting them out of their homes with their medicine in time.

CHRISTOPHE, EVACUATED FROM WILDFIRES (through translation): We never knew the war, but we have known calamities. Nothing like this, though, this type of fire.

BELL (voice-over): Spain, too, is battling several wildfires, one on the outskirts of Madrid, another in the east of the country. Authorities say that 60,000 people have now been displaced.

MARIA ANGELES SERRANO, EVACUATED FROM WILDFIRES (through translation): More than anything, I'm afraid because of what is being lost, nature itself. Material damage is one thing, but that can be repaired, so to speak. What really hurts is emotional loss.

BELL (voice-over): A loss that will only be measurable when the fires are finally contained.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BELL (on-camera): John, the French President was here this Monday to urge people to remain united in the face of a fight that's likely to last several more weeks. Even once this fire has been contained, there will be the question, of course, of economic reconstruction, not just for this region, but for France.

What local firefighters say is that they believe they have a small window of opportunity overnight to try and bring it under control. Then what happens on Tuesday and Wednesday is that temperatures rise and France will be faced with yet another heatwave. John?

BERMAN: More to come. Melissa Bell, thank you so much.

That's all for us tonight. I'll see you back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. alongside Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan for CNN News Central.

The news continues. The Source starts now.